The present invention relates to apparatus for filling and positioning marine mattresses for on-site installation on shorelines, for example. A marine mattress, as known in the art, is a generally rectangular polymeric container that is filled with aggregate, such as stone, and placed on shorelines to control erosion. However, they can also function as a foundation for future construction, such as a levee, breakwater, pipeline, building pad, and the like. It is not unusual that such filled mattresses can weigh up to eight tons. By way of example, the weight of a filled mattress is approximately 90 lbs. per sq. ft. of surface area of the filled mattress in a horizontal position. Thus, a 35′×5′×1′ mattress would weigh about 15,750 lbs. For clarification and further understanding, a commercial mattress is manufactured by Tensar Earth Technologies under the trade name Triton Marine Mattresses.
On a typical construction project utilizing marine mattresses, the filling of the mattresses is usually performed at a site other than where the mattresses will eventually be placed. Quite often this site might be miles away with the filled mattresses stockpiled or stored until ready to be loaded onto a barge or truck for transport to the construction site for placement.
The filling of these mattresses in the past has been crude, and haphazard, and thus, a dangerous procedure. Prior art involved laying the mattress on its side (vertical) and securing it to a frame or posts to prevent it from falling over. One side of the mattress is left open permitting aggregate to be placed into the mattress utilizing a front-end loader. Once filled, the open side of the mattress is then closed and secured by braiding and the mattress lowered to a horizontal position. A crane, excavator, or other lifting device utilizing a spreader bar is typically used to lift the filled mattress by its two ends from the horizontal position. The mattresses are often stored in stacks on-site, loaded onto a truck or barge for transport, or occasionally transported by the crane or excavator for immediate placement, in cases where the filling site and the placement site are in close proximity and the placement site is accessible.
To date, the lowering of the mattresses to a horizontal position has been performed by utilizing a front-end loader, crane, or similar lifting device or by permitting the mattress to fall, often damaging the mattress. Additionally, the rigging utilized when attaching to a lifting device was often underrated, attached incorrectly, or not approved for this usage, and thus, potentially unsafe.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is serious concern for erosion control, particularly in the southeastern United States, specifically the Atlantic and Gulf coast, from hurricanes, where the storms from June to October cause significant damage to beach structures and beach erosion. Millions of dollars are lost each year in trying to correct erosion problems, and to repair the ultimate damage that will result from storm damage. Not only are there on-shore problems, but there are associated problems with immediate shorelines. While the prior art fails to address the on-shore problems, the direct interest of the present invention, the prior art does offer potential solutions for different submerged systems as reflected in the following U.S. Patents:                a.) U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,495, to Lin, discloses a beach/inlet stabilization system for bypassing the littoral drift to cross an inlet. The beach/inlet stabilization system consists of a well system, a diffuser system, a flow guiding system, a sediment trapping system, a dune drainage system and a water surface elevation sensor. The method thereof includes the steps of: (1) trapping the sediment carried by the littoral drift during flood tides and storms, with the sediment trapping system in the inlet during flood tides and storms, (2) regenerating the littoral drift by flushing the sediment trapping system when the ebb tidal current is weak, (3) directing the regenerated littoral drift by the diffuser system, located around the jetties between the inlet and the downstream beach, toward the downstream beach suffering from erosion or starvation of the littoral drift, (4) guiding the regenerated littoral drift toward the shore of the downstream beach, (5) lowering the ground water table of the downstream beach by the well system, (6) draining the excess ground water of the dune as the result of storm surges, adjacent to the downstream beach, and (7) sensing the water surface elevation and water flow velocity by the water surface elevation sensor, to generate control signals for the operation of the well system, the diffuser system, the sediment trapping system, the flow guiding system, and the drainage system.        b.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,396, to Menard, teaches a liquid confinement structure to control the depth of water contained by earthen levees in a rice field or the like, and to allow excess water to flow through a gate therein to prevent overflow and washout of the levees. The structure includes a horizontally elongated panel of rigid sheet aluminum for placement in a gap in an earthen water containment levee. The panel has a central cutaway portion closed by a rigid gate about eight inches high by about four feet wide articulated by a flexible strip joining the bottom of the gate to the horizontal edge of the cutaway portion. When the gate is tilted downward to permit water flow to lower the level of the water, the water is prevented from flowing around the ends of the gate by flaps forming seals between the edges of the gate and the edges of the opening in the panel. The gate element is held at a desired angle for controlling water level by a restraining chain at each end of the gate, the links of which may be captured in a slot in the top of the panel adjacent the cutaway portion. Openings at the extremities of the panel provide hand holds or means for engagement of hooks to facilitate installing, handling, or removing the structures.        c.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,696, to Beardsley, relates a system for rebuilding beaches which are subject to erosion of sand comprising a sheet of flexible impermeable material placed in the ocean near the shore and anchored to the water bottom with a plurality of landward tethers and a plurality of seaward tethers. A shoreward edge of the sheet parallel to the shoreline is weighted down. A seaward edge of the sheet, also parallel to the shoreline, may be provided with a float device to tend to raise the edge. As waves travel from the ocean toward the beach, the water is deflected under the sheet by the raised seaward edge, and into contact with sand and soil under the sheet, causing the sand and soil to move toward the beach. However, during the backwash of the wave, the weighted beachward edge of the sheet rests on the water bottom, deflecting the water over the sheet and out of contact with the sand and soil under the sheet, preventing movement of sand and soil away from the beach.        d.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,151, to Brown, III, et al., is directed to an underwater erosion control system that has viscous drag elements for increasing the effect of viscous drag and disrupting laminar flow on the water current having a frame that includes two longitudinal supports that extend along the length of the underwater erosion control system near its bottom portion. The longitudinal supports extend at opposite sides of the viscous drag elements. A plurality of rungs traverse the longitudinal supports and are spaced some distance apart from each other. The viscous drag elements may be panels secured to the rungs along their retaining portion. Apertures are formed within the retaining portion of the panels and are used to retain the panels from lateral movement by passing an inner support through the apertures parallel to the longitudinal supports. The frame may be flexible or rigid. A novel installation frame and a method for installing the rigid frame embodiment also are disclosed.        e.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,632, to Martin, discloses a beach building structure for underwater installation along the shoreline of a body of water having periodic onshore wave action. The structure includes a base frame adapted to rest on the bottom of the body of water, a ballast supporting member secured to the base frame in order to receive ballast such as rocks to help anchor the structure in position. A barrier plate is secured to the seaward portion of the base frame and is angularly disposed to slope upwardly and toward the shoreline and to extend above the mean water level to present a sloping surface to onshore waves.        f.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,532, to McGinn, teaches a structural member for use in erosion control and sediment retention. The structural unit has two adjacent shafts, both further having a cross sectionally triangular shape with a longitudinal side completely or substantially mostly removed to form legs. The leg ends are formed or machined such that they present two outward surfaces generally parallel to the open face of a first adjacent shaft. The outward surfaces of the leg ends are then positionally fixed, albeit with some flexible movement in some embodiments, to generally have a parallel and longitudinal interface with the longitudinal outside edges of a solid side of a second shaft. A stacked assembly may be formed from the structural members capable of sediment retention or accumulation.        
From the above noted problems, and prior art attempts to solve the concern for erosion, nothing has been presented that provides the answers of this invention. The manner by which this may be accomplished will become more apparent in the description which follows, especially when read in conjunction with the accompanying Figures.